The documentary film “The Markish’s Case”

The documentary film “The Markish’s Case” is about the life of David Markish, a writer and public figure. It’s a unique project made by the bookstore «Babel» (Tel Aviv) and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

David Markish’s a writer, author of a dozen novels, a publicist, a public figure, the son of a poet and one of the leaders of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee Peretz Markish. He has been living in Israel since the early 1970s. Markish is the winner of Israeli and foreign literary awards, many of his books have been translated into Hebrew and  European languages.

“Markish’s case” is not just movie, it’s the writer’s lively speech about his life, the history of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, about the “refusal” and about the arrival of David Markish and his family to Israel, their life here, about the people with whom he had a chance to communicate, and also about books. The film consists of five series and will be broadcast both online and on television.

The creators of the film – Lena Kogan (director) and Evgenii Kogan (producer), the founders of the bookstore “Babel”. After the release of the film, Eugenii and Lena want to release a book-biography of David Markish.

Movie:

Series:

“Sheket” project

Providing comprehensive assistance to socially unprotected people with hearing limitations.

The project is implemented jointly with the regional charitable public organization to promote the activities of Jewish communities “Moscow Jewish Community House.”

“Sheket” is a unique program, unique in Moscow, for helping deaf and hard of hearing Jews, which was established in Moscow and has been successfully operating for more than 15 years.

For children with hearing impairments by hearing and hard of hearing people, events are organized to celebrate Jewish holidays, birthdays and anniversaries, sightseeing trips for the city, family trips to nature, visits to museums, and exhibitions.

“Sobibor” – The Movie

The film was shot based on real events that occurred during the Second World War in the Nazi death camp Sobibor, in Poland. The film shows how, in just three weeks, together with a group of Soviet prisoners of war, Alexander Aronovich Pechersky, a lieutenant of the Soviet army, who was captured and imprisoned in the camp, managed to plan and carry out an unprecedented, successful uprising of prisoners from various European countries. On October 14th, 1943, about three hundred prisoners escaped from the camp, but most of them later died. All the prisoners who remained in Sobibor were killed, and the camp itself was soon destroyed.

“We hope that the film will inspire the audience to learn more about the history of the heroic successful uprising of Sobibor concentration camp prisoners, which became a unique event in the history of the Second World War,” – said EAJC President Mikhail Mirilashvili.

The film “Sobibor” became the directorial debut of the famous Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky, who also played the main role – a Soviet officer, a Jew, Alexander Pechersky.

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress provided financial support to the Pechersky Foundation to promote and expand the international presentation of the film “Sobibor”, which has been released on May 3rd, 2018.

Public Diplomacy Project

Public Diplomacy is a special project created by Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. Its main goal is to form a comprehensive and objective representation of Israel nowadays and also strengthening ties with public opinion leaders in the region.

Israeli politicians, experts and journalists visit countries in Euro-Asian region and explain Israel’s position about the most important questions to the powerful people in all spheres. Moreover, delegations from the Euro-Asian region visits Israel to see this country with their own eyes.

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Institute for Euro-Asian Jewish Studies

The Institute for Euro-Asian Jewish Studies (IEAJS), founded by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, is envisioned as an academic think-tank and platform for academic and professional exchange among leading experts that study Jewish communities of the Former Soviet Union, Balkan and Asian countries, as well as “transnational Jewish diasporas”—communities that are detached from their countries of origin.

The Institute will facilitate academic and applied studies that examine the current affairs and needs of Euro-Asian Jewish communities, their social and political standing in their host countries, as well as their relations with the State of Israel and other global and regional powers. It will also investigate Jewish migration processes and the historical, cultural and political heritage of these communities.

Communities, organizations included in the EAJC and Congress partners can assist in researching and collecting materials, selecting authors for publications, developing proposals and ordering projects (including their co-financing). Moreover, they can help organizing presentations of the Institute’s materials.

The institute, in partnership with colleagues from the countries of the former USSR, has launched a large-scale sociological study “Jewish communities of the post-Soviet space: the current state and the dynamic trends”. The study includes a survey of the Jewish (in the broad sense of the word) population of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova in order to understand the development of the Jewish and other ethnic identities of these communities better, as well as to observe the current trends in the formation of Jewish communities. Additionally, the survey will help to evaluate the preferred mechanisms of joining the Jewish community by non-Jewish and mixed origin individuals. Moreover, it will help to examine migration dynamics, socio-economic status of various groups of Jews of these countries and their relationship to Israel.

The institute will be happy to assist communities in organizing this survey, and will provide them with the results of this study, which, in our opinion, should help in their future work planning.

Theatrical Competition “Memory of the people”

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, in conjunction with the Youth Parliament under the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, held a theater festival-contest dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims – “The Memory of the People” in order to preserve the memory of the events of the Holocaust tragedy. The organizers and partners of the contest were also the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, the Russian Peace Foundation and Russian Union of Jewish Students.

The competition involved youth creative teams of Russia; it consists of two stages, regional and federal. Participants presented their work to the regional organizing committee, the best teams showed their performances in Moscow.

The winner of the contest in 2018 and the winner of the prize for “Best Performance” was the only Russian theater studio organized in the orphanage. The performance “Memory”, presented by the theater-studio “Children’s Island” of the Ivanovo Special (Correctional) Children’s Home Rainbow, received the majority of the jury’s votes. The organizers and partners of the “Memory of the People” contest announced that the contest will be held every year.

Support of educational project “Limmud”

Limmud is the first and only Jewish educational, cultural and entertainment event designed for everyone and providing an opportunity for active, intense and incredibly exciting learning. The Limmud conferences are built on a unique model and consist of seminars, lectures, master classes and discussions covering the most diverse topics: from the history of the Jewish communities of the world to issues of Israeli politics, from religious discussions to rock concerts and performances, from questions of Jewish spirituality and philosophy to Jewish cuisine. Moreover, in Limmud do not forget about science, art, technology and many other relevant and exciting topics.

In 2017, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress supported the Limmud conferences in three countries. The conferences were held in Odessa, St. Petersburg and Eilat. In 2018, the EAJC also announced its support for the project.

Aaron Frenkel, Chairman of the EAJC Board andthe President of Limmud FSU, said: “Limmud’s beautiful concept attracts many Jews. The inherent spirit of learning and innovation unites Jews around the world. ”

EAJC President Mikhail Mirilashvili said: “Limmud is a great project in which various people share their unique experience, their unique knowledge, introduce others to their worldview. For ten years, the Russian-speaking Limmud FSU is rightfully one of the most successful projects in the Jewish world “.

Support of the Sefer Center

The International Public Organization “Sefer” is an association of researchers and university lecturers of Judaica which exists since 1994. This organization supports students, graduates and academic workers in all areas of Judaism studies, contributing to the development of scientific research in this field.

Today, “Sefer” is the largest organization in the post-Soviet space, which unites all those who are involved in the research of Jewish civilization, its heritage and studies of the current situation of Jewish communities. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress supports the activities of «Sefer» and assists in the implementation of large-scale international conferences, publishing activities and youth programs.

Center “Sefer” contributes to the establishment of the intercultural and interreligious dialogue in the post-Soviet space and the development of interest in Jewish studies, history and culture. Moreover, it focuses on the improving the quality of teaching Judaism in the universities.

Sefer’s activities are not limited to academic frameworks: the project plays a huge educational role in Jewish communities, preserving the memory of traditions and the life structure of the Jews in the Eurasian region.

Sefer’s conferences are the most important platform for the meetings of Jewish scientific organizations’ leaders, where people can share their experience. In 2018, in Moscow was held the 25th Anniversary International Conference of Judaica, where a special place was given to the State of Israel, its history, modernity and ties with Diasporas. Another important event was the International Conference from the cycle “The Culture of Slavs and the Culture of Jews: Dialogue, Similarities, Differences».

Sefer’s schools play a significant role in the preparation of the young professionals who are interested in studying Jewish cultural heritage, history and etc. The ethnographic and epigraphic areas of field work allow closer acquaintance with the traditions and family history of Jewish communities.

Sefer’s publishing activity is one of the main sites for research publications in the field of Jewish civilization. The project provides such publications as a yearbook for young researchers “Tirosh”, a yearbook on studying the interaction of Slavic and Jewish culture, a periodical Judaic-Slavic Journal and materials on the results of field studies.

Additionally, educational activities of “Sefer” are highly developed – they include webinars and video lectures for the general public in order to open up a worldwide access to communication with the leading experts and to give more possibilities of familiarization with the latest results of their researches.

Sunday educational platform “JFuture”

JFuture – Sunday educational platform with the use of new technologies and teaching methods, where children and parents will get new knowledge, take advices from professional specialists and can spend time productively in a warm family atmosphere.

Creating a JFuture – an educational platform to involve non-affiliated Jewish families and strengthen the Jewish heritage.

Principles:

  • Jewish heritage: studying the history and traditions of Jewish people
  • Novelty in learning: A system of unique, creative, and intellectual development that helps to open up and “unlock the potential”. Studying process based on STEAM approach stands for Science (Science), Technologies (Technology), Engineering (Engineering), Art (Art) and Math (Mathematics). All these components are related to the most promising and prospective sectors and areas of the future.
  • Global Jewish Network: the feeling of unity of the Jewish people, regardless of the place of living, a sense of belonging to the global Jewish community.
  • Warm family atmosphere: A platform where you can discuss topics of interest, learn, develop and feel like at home.

JFuture platform opens on the basis of a community center. The project involves weekly Sunday meetings for groups of children and parents.

Participants unite in age groups: J-fan 5–6 years old, J-lab 7–9 years old, J-prof 10–12 years old, parents. In each age group – from 6 to 15 people. Lessons are held in different formats: separately for children and parents and once a month for all groups together. Sunday platform includes 3 hours of productive classes for each age group. It is suggested to have 15-minute breaks for participants between classes (if possible).

Project programs are developed by leading experts and are based on best practices. They are interactive and focused on practical application. In each lesson we use multimedia equipment (interactive Smartboard, projector, etc.). Lessons are developed for three age groups, taking into account individual age features. For the smallest, we use lego-technology. This makes the lesson unusual, interesting, attracts children’s attention and allows them to better absorb the material.

For all questions related to the project, you can contact the EAJC Israeli branch:  [email protected]

Сhildren’s camp “Integration”

The children’s camp “Integration” is an international project for children with disabilities. The city camp serves as a platform for the integration of families with special children into society and the Jewish community. This project has existed at the Moscow Jewish Community House since 2004.

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress has been actively supporting the camp’s activities for several years and assisting in the implementation of activities that help to ensure social adaptation of families in order to establish constructive contacts with the outside world. In addition, the camp promotes backward integration, when ordinary children who interact with special children within the framework of projects become more open, tolerant, understanding, and accepting “other” children. The desire and readiness to help them whenever possible is formed. Unjustified fears and prejudice disappear.

This project allows families with children with disabilities along with ordinary children to go on excursions, to get acquainted with the historical past of our people, to develop their horizons and get new experiences and experience. In workshops and classes all participants are united by a creative process, a special atmosphere. Special children get experience in a group, learn to bring things to a logical end.

Professional psychologists, social workers and art educators take part in the project. Psychological support promotes morale and strengthens relationships within the family. Thanks to the successful work of the project, new people come to us, hoping for real help.